Melanson Settlement

Melanson Settlement: North Mountain behind, South Mountain across the river.

"The Melanson Settlement was an Acadian family settlement in the former Port-Royal area. It was located on the north shore of the Dauphin (now Annapolis) River, 6.5 kilometres down river from the town of Port-Royal (later Annapolis Royal.) Like the other Acadian settlements scattered along the river, the Melanson Settlement was an agricultural community where family members and neighbours worked co-operatively in the distinctive dykeland agriculture that was unique in colonial North America.

Artwork of the establishment of agricultural dykelands
© Nova Scotia Museum, A. Vienneau

The houses, farm buildings and other architectural features of the settlement, as well as its orchards and upland gardens were situated on an upland terrace, overlooking the river, while its dykes and extensive fields were located on the salt marshes. Because it was on the approach to the fort at Port-Royal/Annapolis Royal, engineers recorded the Melanson Settlement on several 18th-century maps, providing an unusually detailed record for a pre-Deportation Acadian settlement.

An archaeological survey undertaken in 1984 on quiet farmland on the banks of the Annapolis River unlocked the key to the history of the Acadian settlers who lived here throughout the 17th and 18th centuries.

The Melanson Settlement---now a Parks Canada National Historic Site--- revealed a system of dykeland farming unique among Acadians living in North America which involved families and neighbours cooperatively working the land."

All text ©Parks Canada

More on Acadian settlements in Annapolis County may be found here.